[gpderetta]

It is not so much that it is fuzzy, it is that the two definitions are not exclusive.

A compilation translates a language to another, whether it is native code, internal bytecode, portable bytecode, or another source language. Compilation might also type check and optimize depending on the language. Interpretation executes a language; normally bytecode is executed, but pure source level interpreters exist. Native code is "interpreted" by the cpu itself of course.

For example JAVA is certainly a compiled language, but it is typically compiled to bytecode and then interpreted or JITed (which is a combined interpreter/compiler).